


Come Back To Me

by heytheregisela



Category: Ragehappy - Fandom, Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF, mavin - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Mavin, RageHappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-09
Updated: 2014-03-06
Packaged: 2018-01-11 18:57:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1176678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heytheregisela/pseuds/heytheregisela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Michael and Gavin have been friends for a few years before they both land jobs at Rooster Teeth. Working side by side everyday makes them realize their feelings for each other, but before anything can actually happen, Gavin has an accident that causes him to have amnesia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

Life had its strange way of working. Michael had expected to go through college without any hassle. He never expected to live any of the wild college life, because he really just didn't care about all that company. He was only looking forward to graduating and getting into his career. Some of his classmates would try inviting him, and sometimes he would agree to go, but he never stayed past ten. Eventually, they had gotten the hint that Michael was truly serious about his education, and they finally let him be. And Michael liked that – they still talked to him, but he liked not feeling so pressured to go out every night. He could just relax in his dorm room – which had turned into a single during the middle of his first year because his roommate had dropped out – and study a bit before allowing himself some free time.

But it was the beginning of his second year that he was assigned a new roommate. Of course.

He expected this.

What he didn't expect was the roommate being Gavin Free, aka the most obnoxious, loud, but very intelligent – Michael would secretly admit that – guy he had ever met.

Not to mention his accent.

That accent was the bane of Michael’s existence the first few months living together. Every morning, he'd wake to a “Hi Michael.” and fall asleep to a sleepy and mumbled, “Sweet dreams, Michael.”

It was annoying. Everything about Gavin was annoying; from the way he never seemed upset, to his big nose, and even the way he dressed. Michael almost couldn't stand Gavin and there were times where he wanted to just tackle the guy and tell him to shut up.

But he held it together knowing that he really didn't have to deal with Gavin much if he concentrated on his work, maybe even by leaving to study at the library or a coffee shop. That way he would only have to see the blond in the mornings and evenings, and Michael could handle that easily. What Michael didn't expect though was having Gavin decide to study at the library on the same day Michael had. Gavin had strolled in, cheerful as always (annoyingly, because who could be so happy all the damn time? It wasn't natural), and the moment he spotted Michael, he practically ran over and sat down in the empty seat next to him.

“Oh, no,” Michael murmured, closing his eyes and hoping he was just imagining it.

“Michael!” Gavin said loudly, enough to get the librarian to shush them. Gavin frowned a bit and lowered his voice, “What a coincidence finding you here.”

“I come here like everyday,” Michael sternly answered, opening his eyes again and going back to reading the textbook in front of him.

“You don't like me very much, don't you? Or at all?”

The statement had caught Michael off guard from how bland and sad it sounded, and that was weird, for Gavin, so Michael felt like he _had_ to turn to face him.

“What?” Michael asked.

Gavin smiled softly. “I'm not an idiot, Michael, even though that's what you tell your friends about me.”

Michael's eyes slightly widened. “How do you-”

“Like I said, Michael, I'm not an idiot.”

Michael was surprised, but he relaxed when he saw Gavin still smiling. The guy was obviously not too offended, or he was just great at covering it up.

“Well, Gavin,” Michael began, “it's not that I don't like you. It's just-”

“Can we just start fresh?” Gavin asked. “I feel like we never actually introduced ourselves to each other.”

“We did.”

Gavin sighed and rolled his eyes. “A quick 'I'm Gavin' and a quiet, 'Michael' in reply isn't the greatest introduction. We don't even know each other.” He held out his hand, that smile still on his face. “Hi, I'm Gavin Free.”

Michael furrowed his eyebrows as he looked from Gavin's hand to Gavin's eyes. He really did seem like the friendliest guy, and Michael wanted to hate him, but with how sweet he was being about everything, he kind of couldn't. So he shook Gavin's hand and returned the smile. Gavin's smile curled up more when he noticed Michael's dimples. He never noticed them before. Probably because he had actually never seen Michael smile.

“Hi, Gavin,” Michael said, “I'm Michael Jones.”

Gavin sighed and nodded, “It's nice to meet you, Michael.”

And from that moment on, they had hit it off. Gavin learned that Michael was from New Jersey, and Michael figured out that Gavin had come from Oxfordshire, England. They learned the basics, the boring stuff, and interesting things about each other. It was such an easy friendship. Gavin was laid back and kind, and Michael would have never expected becoming so close to him.

 

* * *

 

“Michael!” Gavin called as he came running towards the dorm. “Michael! Michael!”

Michael tilted his head a bit as he read the message he had just received on youtube, apparently from Rooster Teeth, but that couldn't be right. Someone from Rooster Teeth was not actually messaging him. Why would he get noticed by such an amazing company? It couldn't be true. Michael even took off his glasses and wiped them before putting them back on to read that message over again, just to make sure he was reading things correctly, but he was.

“Michael!” Gavin opened the door and flew in, the biggest grin on his face.

Michael swiveled the chair to face him.

“I got it!” Gavin said, waving a stack of papers in his hand.

“What?” Michael asked.

“That interview I had today with Rooster Teeth! I got the job!”

Michael's eyes widened as his lips parted.

“I'm going to be working with our favorite people, Michael!” Gavin continued on, practically squealing and jumping up and down.

Michael stood up slowly and walked up to Gavin, the corners of his lips twitching up.

“So am I,” he said.

Gavin furrowed his eyebrows, but he didn't frown. “You are?”

Michael nodded, smiling wider. “Yeah, Gavin. I just got a message from them on youtube.” He wandered back to his computer to show Gavin, “Look.” Gavin did. “They liked my stupid rage videos and they wanna meet me. Dude, Gavin, do you know what this means?”

Gavin looked away from the computer screen to meet Michael's eyes, bright and excited, and he smiled. “We're going to be working together!”

It had been two years since Michael and Gavin had become friends, and Michael did not expect that he would find a job at his favorite place with his favorite person.

 

* * *

 

Life threw many surprises at people. One moment, everything's planned, and the next, everything's changed. Sometimes it was for the best, and getting a job at Rooster Teeth was definitely life being so kind to Michael. Everyone there had been so welcoming; immediately treating him and Gavin like family by teasing them as if they were their youngest brothers. And Michael liked that. He felt comfortable and completely settled in by the second week.

He had gone through college without a real clue of what he wanted to actually do in life and left to work the best job he could ever think of.

He did know he wanted to do something that involved working close with computers, or video games, anything with designing, but he hadn't expected this.

He hadn't expected being apart of Achievement Hunter and have 'Rage Quit' be a thing. He didn't expect having a desk right next to Gavin's, giving the guy a ride to work and back (because Gavin had never bothered to learn to drive), and feeling even closer to him.

 

* * *

 

“It's been five months, Gavin,” Michael said to him one day as they got ready to leave, “and I still can't fucking believe I work here.”

Gavin laughed and nodded, and Michael couldn't help but smile. Feelings were weird. One moment, everything was fine for Michael. He had a dream job and was best friends with one of the best guys he knew. But at times, it was difficult for him to shake what he felt deeper inside. Such as the way a simple touch on the arm from Gavin would cause goosebumps to rise on Michael's arms. Or the way he would randomly find Gavin smiling at him during the day when they would be recording or editing something. Michael would always pretend he didn't notice, because it was clear that's what Gavin wanted, but that wouldn't stop the hairs on the back of Michael's neck from standing up straight.

“At least we're not the newbies anymore,” Gavin said in his teasing voice as he looked over to see Ray standing by his desk.

Ray merely grinned at them as he made his way out of the office.

Michael laughed and said goodnight to him before facing Gavin again, who was still just sitting down. “Come on, you idiot, let's go.”

Gavin smiled at that but shook his head. “I'm staying a little longer to get some things done.”

Michael's eyebrows furrowed. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I'll get a ride home from whoever is still here when I'm done.”

That made Michael roll his eyes. Gavin really thought he could just ask anyone for a ride right off the spot, right at the last minute, as if the person didn't have something better to do. He just thought it was so easy.

Well... it was easy. For him especially, being the cute guy with the bright smile and all. It was dumb.

“Hey, you two still here?” Geoff asked as he halted in his tracks.

Michael looked over at him and smiled. “Yeah, but I'm heading out. Gavin's staying to finish some shit or I don't know,” he joked.

Gavin grinned.

“Of course,” Geoff responded, shaking his head at he looked at Gavin, but he smiled and said, “See ya two in the morning.” before walking off again.

“Yeah, you too, Geoff!” Michael called.

“Goodnight, Geoff,” Gavin chimed in.

“Alright, well,” Michael spoke softly, “night, Gavin.”

Gavin finally stood up from his seat and smiled at Michael as he was now face to face with him. Michael stiffened a bit to see how close they were, he almost thought he could feel Gavin's breath on his face. He licked his lips and took a deep breath. It would be the greatest thing if he could just lean in closer. Just a little closer...

And as he watched Gavin's lips, Michael found himself doing just that; leaning in – slowly.

Gavin swallowed hard as he felt his heart beats become faster.

“Sweet dreams, my boy,” he whispered, and Michael froze, though his lips curled up.

“You too, boy,” he replied as he stepped back.

Gavin sighed, but stood up straight, hoping the disappointment wasn't evident. And it wasn't. Michael hadn't noticed at all as he turned around and headed out. Gavin sat back down and got to work. Michael never expected to develop any kind of feelings for Gavin, but they came so naturally that he just didn't care. It felt right, like falling for Gavin was supposed to happen, and as Michael got into his car, he realized he needed to stop expecting certain things. Everything would play out the way they were meant to.

But he really never expected having to wake up to news about Gavin being hospitalized.


	2. Two

By the time Gavin had finished and was ready to leave the office, everyone else had already left, none of them realizing Gavin was still there. And Gavin being Gavin, didn't bother to ask around for a ride before it was too late. He sighed loudly as he turned everything off and headed out, making sure all the doors were locked. He didn't mind too much about having to walk. His apartment wasn't even too far away, just a few blocks, and he could manage that, even though the night air was feeling a bit cold. He zipped up his Achievement Hunter hoodie and walked on.

A part of him was beginning to wish he would have just gone with Michael, but he wanted to feel accomplished about getting more work done. And so, he shook his head and decided to not regret it.

There were quite amount of cars on the road – people making their way home from a long day, no doubt.

Gavin smiled to himself as he thought back to that moment he shared with Michael, how close he came to closing that small space between their lips; how long he's been wanting to. It happened every time they were alone. They would get so quiet and just stare at each other, and Gavin always wondered if Michael was thinking the same as he was. Sometimes, it felt like he was, because of his actions, such as leaning in, as he did earlier. Gavin didn't want to get his hopes up, though, and it was why he always seemed to do or say something to break their moment.

Michael wouldn't be interested in him like that.

They were just best friends, and that's all they'd ever be. And Gavin was fine with that. He could ignore the urge to kiss Michael, easily. He had been doing so for a few months now and it was working. There was no problem to continue on doing so until he found someone else, or until Michael found someone else, which wouldn't take too long, Gavin was sure of that.

He came to stop at a crosswalk and pressed the button and crossed his arms as he waited for the cars to let him by.

The cars kept passing until the sign for Gavin to walk came on, but by then, no car was even in sight. The blond went ahead and started walking across.

Having feelings for someone shouldn't be complicated, it shouldn't scary, or anything bad at all. It should be easy, a nice thing to confess to someone, but the fear of rejection always put those aside.

It was a blinding light hitting the side of his face that made Gavin freeze halfway to the other side. He looked over to see a car heading right towards him at full speed. Gavin wanted to move, to run, but he stood still, standing there as he trembled at the sight. He held his breath and just waited for the impact. He was going to die. He was going to die because he was too damn scared to move his feet.

The car wasn't even trying to move out of the way or stop. It was coming right for him and when Gavin finally found the strength to jump over, the car still managed to make some contact with him. It was as if time had stopped. Gavin could feel himself being flung into the air in slow motion. He kept his eyes opened, staring at the spot he knew was going to land on – the sidewalk he had been heading to in the first place. And he thought, maybe he could make it. Maybe the landing wouldn't hurt so much, and he would manage to get up and go home with only bruises.

He would be okay.

He would go to sleep and wake up to go to work.

He would see his Michael, and everything would be okay...

Until he landed, head first, and then, the whole world was a blur, a moving blur of lights all around him. He heard screams and voices approaching him, but he didn't see anyone, and then, he saw nothing at all.

 

* * *

 

It could have been worse, Geoff was told. The car had been fast and if Gavin hadn't moved at all, there would have been more damage. But Gavin did hit his head roughly on the sidewalk and that had worried doctors as they rushed him onto the ambulance, but once they checked up on everything, they saw he only had a concussion; one that would have surely gotten worse if not treated immediately. They had gotten to the scene just in time, and Geoff stepped away to call Michael. He knew how close those two were, and it only felt right if Michael were there when Gavin finally woke up.

_Ring... ring... ring..._

Michael groaned at the sound of his cell phone furiously vibrating on his bedside table. It couldn't be morning yet. He opened one eye as he reached over to grab his phone. His vision was a bit blurred but he saw the name Geoff lit up on the screen.

Yawning, he answered, “Hey Geoff.”

“Michael, hey buddy,” Geoff replied.

Michael rubbed his eyes and sat up. “What's going on?”

Geoff opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly telling Michael this kind of news at this time of day seemed brutal.

“Geoff?” Michael asked, “What? What's wrong?”

Geoff sighed and shrugged, “Gavin was in accident last night.”

Michael almost dropped his phone as he stared hard at the ground, everything around him seeming to disappear.

“What?” He asked, in a low tone.

“He was, uh... he got ran over. He's fine. He just has a concussion. I just called so you could be here when he wakes up. Don't worry about work today. Just come.”

Michael's eyes were wide. He remained silent, waiting and hoping Geoff would start laughing and say he was just kidding, but the longer he waited, the more Michael knew it was real.

“I'll be there,” he said, his voice weak.

Geoff nodded and said, “Alright. I'll be here.”

Michael swallowed the lump in his throat, trying not to think about it too much, because Geoff said Gavin was fine. He was alive and he was okay. He just had a concussion, but he was fine, yet Michael couldn't stop his nerves from taking over. He quickly picked out some clothes to wear and as he was changing out of his pajamas and into his outfit, he wondered why the fuck didn't he just go to the hospital in his pajamas. It was just a damn hospital. He didn't have anyone to impress, but he rolled his eyes and just continued with getting ready in a hurry.

He noticed as he grabbed his car keys, that his hands were shaking, and he hoped he could keep steady enough to drive. As he grabbed the doorknob, something on the coffee table caught his attention. Michael turned to find his Minecraft diamond pendant was resting there. He smiled softly as he opened the door.

“I'm coming, Gavin,” he said to himself as he walked out.

 

* * *

 

Hours felt like days as Michael sat more than impatiently in the waiting room. He tapped his foot and ran his fingers through his hair. The nurse told him that Gavin couldn't have more than one visitor at a time. Michael and Geoff had been taking turns, and now he was just waiting for when it was his turn to wait in the room again. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he took it out to find a new message from Ray.

“How's Gavin?” Ray texted.

Michael pursed his lips and he replied with, “Still fucking asleep, but he's alright.”

It had been six hours since Michael woke up with the news. Some people waited longer for someone to wake up; days and months, and he was there, complaining about hours. He groaned as he got up to his feet and began pacing back and forth.

“Don't fucking give yourself a heartache,” he mumbled under his breath, “they already said he would be fine.”

Michael stopped moving and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

“Michael,” Geoff's voice came, and he spun around to find Geoff standing in the hallway.

“My turn?” Michael asked.

Geoff smiled as he said, “He's waking up.”

And for the first time since the night before, Michael felt like he could actually breathe comfortably and finally not shaky. He followed Geoff down the hall and around the corner to Gavin's room.

Everything felt like it was throbbing, especially Gavin's head. He winced as he fully opened his eyes to see bright light facing him back.

“Why am I in a hospital?” He asked himself as he slowly looked around the room.

Michael stopped in the doorway, his heart coming to a normal pace when he saw Gavin lying there, eyes open. He smiled softly and entered the room while Geoff waited outside to call Burnie and let him and everyone else know that Gavin was awake.

“Hey, Gavin,” Michael greeted as he made his way to Gavin's side.

Gavin looked up and furrowed his eyebrows.

Michael grinned at him and gently placed his hand on top of Gavin's, “How are you feeling?”

Gavin looked down at their hands making contact and slowly pulled his away. Michael immediately put his hand down and cleared his throat to hide how much that actually hurt.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

Gavin shook his head as he looked back up at Michael. “How do you know my name?”

Michael's eyes widened. That had to be the dumbest question Gavin had ever asked, and Gavin had a tendency of asking irrelevant questions.

“What are you talking about?” Michael asked him. “How do I _not_ know your name? You idiot.”

Gavin seemed disgusted by Michael's words as he wrinkled up his nose and squeezed his eyebrows more together. “Idiot?” He asked. “Who are you to judge me?”

And then Michael knew what was happening. “Oh, no,” he whispered, an ache in his chest beginning to form. “You have no idea who I am, do you?”

Gavin shook his head again. “No. I... I've never seen you in my life.”

Gavin had hit his head... Michael should have known there would have been more difficulties. No one could just walk away completely okay after an accident such as that one.

He should have known, and now he felt dumb for barging in, thinking everything would be the same. He didn't think of what could happen, of the complications Gavin was actually going to have besides a concussion.

“Alright, Burnie knows,” Geoff said as he walked into the room. He saw Gavin staring at him with wide eyes and he smiled. “Glad you're awake, buddy.”

Gavin raised his eyebrows as he opened his mouth. “You're Geoff Ramsey... from Rooster Teeth.”

Geoff squinted his eyes but then faced Michael for an answer.

Michael tried ignoring the feeling in his chest. “Amnesia,” he answered in a quiet voice.

Geoff's lips parted as he nodded. “Oh, man, Gavin... you're all fucked.”

Gavin blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Gavin...” Michael spoke, looking at the blond again, “what's the last thing you remember?”

Gavin rubbed his chin as he thought about it. There was high school graduation. He remembered going out with his friends for dinner afterwards, how they decided to get as drunk as they could because it was probably going to be the last time they all saw each other. Gavin was excited, and not only because he was done with high school, but because he was heading to the U.S for college. He had his eyes set on a certain college in Austin, Texas, as an excuse to be closer to his dream job at working with Rooster Teeth. And he really couldn't wait. He had it all planned out. Now all he needed was to finish packing his things.

“Uh, well... I... I just moved...” Gavin answered Michael.

And Michael felt his heart sink. “You... just moved?”

Gavin nodded as he looked up at both of them. “Yes... and... what happened? Why am I here?”

When Michael didn't say a word, Geoff spoke, “Uh, you were run over on your way home.”

“What?!” Gavin gasped.

“Well, you're fine, obviously,” Geoff told him, “You're not dead,” he joked, and he laughed a bit until he saw how quickly Michael walked out of there.

Gavin sighed in relief and nodded. “Not to sound disrespectful, but why are _you_ here?” He asked Geoff, “You of all people?”

Geoff rubbed his eyes and smiled at him. “Gavin, you have amnesia. You can't remember, but you work at Rooster Teeth.”

Michael stood outside, his back pressed against the wall. He felt so tired and he just wanted to go home and sleep. It had been the worst day. He woke up with news about Gavin being hospitalized, waited six hours for the blond to wake up, and Michael felt as though it was all for nothing. Gavin didn't even know who he was. Not even a little bit. Everything between them was erased for Gavin.

“ _Gavin, you're my boi, boi!” Michael had said as they were recording another episode of their Let's Play for Minecraft._

“ _Team nice dynamite!” Gavin replied as he smiled at Michael._

“ _Just make out already,” Ray had teased._

“ _Shut up, Ray,” Michael growled at him, even though he was fighting back a smile. And Gavin just laughed as he always did, and they resumed to paying attention to what they were doing, but both Gavin and Michael couldn't help but exchange smiles every now and so during the rest of the recording._

And Gavin didn't remember that, one of Michael's favorite memories. His favorite were always the ones that seem to have the least and yet the most subtle meaning. They were the small moments, and they mattered just as much as the big ones.

But Gavin didn't remember any of them, and knowing that had Michael biting his lower lip as he tried to not let it get to him even more than it already was.

“Me?” Gavin pointed to himself, “I work with you?” He pointed at Geoff.

“Yep,” Geoff answered.

Gavin's face lit up with his usual bright smile and he said, “That's mental!”


	3. Three

The doctor had told Gavin to go about his days as he usually would, with help from Geoff. Geoff just wanted Gavin to come and stay with him at his house in the meantime, but Gavin said it'd be better if he stayed in his own apartment. On the drive there, Gavin looked out the window in awe, as if it were the first time he saw Austin, which, technically, it was. Michael didn't go with them, though, even though Geoff kept on insisting that he would.

“You're his best friend,” Geoff said to Michael, “it'll help him if he hangs around you.”

“I _was_ his best friend,” Michael answered.

“Michael... it's not his fault.”

“I know it's not. I just... leave me alone.”

“Michael-”

“I gotta go!”

And with that, Michael was gone, and Geoff knew better than to disturb Michael when he was feeling like this. So, when Gavin was able to leave the hospital, Geoff was there to drive him home. Geoff asked him if going back to work would be something Gavin wanted to do. Gavin looked away from the car window and faced Geoff.

“To work? At Rooster Teeth?” Gavin asked, “I'm really going to work there?”

“Well, it was part of your daily life. It could help, but if you're not up for it, you can always wait to come back when you're ready.”

“Are you nuts?” Gavin grinned. “I'd love to work! When do I start?” He faced forward as he was practically bouncing in his seat. “It's always been my dream to work there! I can't believe I actually accomplished it!”

Geoff raised an eyebrow and he asked, “What? You didn't think you could?”

Gavin sighed and relaxed in his seat. “Honestly, nope. I was just dreaming.”

And Geoff smiled. The rest of the car ride was silent but neither of them minded as Gavin resumed to staring in awe at their surroundings. Geoff showed Gavin the way to the apartment and unlocked it for him. Gavin stepped inside, half excited and half anxious, most of him hoping stepping inside it would just bring it all back. But alas, as he walked pass the threshold, nothing but blankness filled his mind. He didn't recognize any of it. And Gavin despised that, not being able to remember things he was apparently supposed to know.

He sighed as he walked over to “his” couch. Geoff joined him, patting Gavin on the back.

“It'll be alright, buddy,” Geoff told him and Gavin smiled.

The way Geoff was treating him, with how gentle his words were made Gavin realize he was actually close to Geoff. So he smiled wider and thanked him for the ride home. Geoff nodded and headed out.

“Get some rest, Gavin,” Geoff told him as he stood in the doorway, “I'll come pick you up tomorrow for work.”

“Sounds top,” Gavin replied, and with that, Geoff was gone.

Gavin took a look around the living room. The way it was organized with some mess on top of tables and even on the floor, Gavin knew this apartment for sure had to be his. It wasn't that he purposely tried to be messy, but being in a hurry and hardly having time to actually be home had its cons and that was having to leave everything be without cleaning up. He got up after a bit and headed into what he assumed was his bedroom. Just like the living room and kitchen, it had its messy parts, but overall, it wasn't bad.

Something resting on his bedside table particularly caught his attention and he made his way over to pick up the green creeper pendant. He looked it over, and though he had no idea where he got it from, something about it felt special. The corners of his lips curled up as he set it back down.

“It'll be alright,” he said, repeating Geoff's words. Gavin sat down on the edge of his bed and nodded, “It will be,” he told himself, “I'll remember.”

But the way he felt like a total stranger in his own home, as if he had just broken into someone else's house, he hugged himself and looked down at his feet.

“Eventually, I'll remember,” he whispered to no one.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Walking into the Rooster Teeth felt like walking into a gold mine as Gavin froze midway through the door as he spotted Burnie Burns down the hall chatting it up with Joel Heyman. A big and goofy smile lit up on Gavin's face and the moment Geoff saw it, he laughed, remembering that exact smile the first day Gavin started working there. Gavin fully entered the building and with eyes wide, he waved and smiled at everyone who passed him.

“Welcome back, Gavin,” Barbara Dunkelman greeted him.

Gavin grinned at her and nodded. “Oh... uh, yeah. It's... good to be back... even though I don't remember ever being here.”

Barbara smiled sadly and Gavin walked on. Geoff showed him the way into the Achievement Hunter office where Jack Pattillo, Ryan Haywood, that guy Michael Jones, and someone else Gavin didn't recognize from Rooster Teeth were at, working away with editing.

“This is your desk,” Geoff said as he patted the desk right next to Michael's.

Gavin's eyes widened in horror to see the sight that was his desk. It was cluttered and slowly falling apart.

“Yep,” Geoff said, as if he could read Gavin's mind, “I know. You're messy.”

Michael looked up at Gavin briefly before returning his attention back to his screen. Ray peeked over at Gavin, watching as the blond hesitantly sat down in his chair. A smile crept up on Ray's face as he came up with an idea. He grabbed Gavin's creeper plushie which was lying where Gavin last left it – on the floor next to Ray's chair.

“Hey, Gavin,” Ray said, getting Gavin's attention as he tossed the creeper at him.

Gavin flinched but caught it clumsily. He furrowed his eyebrows as Ray cheered.

“Good catch, Vav,” Ray told him, holding his hand up.

Gavin could only assume he wanted a high five, so gently, he slapped his palm against Ray's.

“That's how X-Ray and Vav do it,” Ray said, grinning lopsidedly at Gavin.

Gavin blinked and looked down at the doll. Just like everything else, he had no memory of it. He faced Ray again and sighed, “I'm sorry, but who are you?”

Ray shrugged, “Guess that didn't work,” he mumbled before smiling again. “I'm Ray. I was hired here a little after you and Michael were. I'm known as the newbie around here until someone else comes along.”

Gavin nodded, “Oh. Nice to meet you, Ray.”

Ray rolled his eyes but went with it, “Yeah, nice meeting you, too.”

“So, 'Vav'?” Gavin asked.

“It was our team name,” Ray explained, “You were Vav and I was X-Ray. We were X-Ray and Vav.” He got up from his seat and walked over to a shelf where he pulled out a shirt. He held it up for Gavin to see, “We even got a shirt.”

Gavin's jaw dropped open at the sight. He had a shirt... a shirt... that had him on it. He couldn't believe it. He jumped up from his chair and walked over to Ray.

“Is that really us?” He asked.

Ray nodded. “Yeah, ya know, we started it as a sort of joke, but the fans loved it. And secretly, we did, too.” He smirked at Gavin.

Gavin was almost breathless at the discovery, and he slowly took the shirt from Ray to examine it better.

“I saw a few shirts from here in my drawer,” Gavin began, “but this is amazing.”

“You have that shirt at home, too,” Ray told him.

“Do I? I didn't see it.”

“Probably because you misplace everything,” Michael muttered, and Gavin heard him, though Michael paid no attention to him.

“What's his deal?” Gavin asked Ray.

Ray shrugged. “Just tired, I think.”

Gavin nodded and let it be, putting the shirt back in its place before returning to his desk, which he still couldn't believe was completely fucked up. As the guys prepared to record a Let's Play, Gavin sat aside, editing another Let's Play video they had recorded earlier. Geoff asked him if he wanted to record with them, but Gavin felt pretty uncomfortable doing so, since he wasn't sure if he'd even remember how to play Minecraft. And he would feel like an outcast with everyone having their jokes and him not being able to understand them.

But Gavin did watch them play, from Michael's screen, and Michael only smiled at him every now and so when they made eye contact. Gavin squinted his eyes at Michael, trying to see if he could, somehow, remember who the hell he was. But the guy sitting next to him was nothing but a stranger, and Gavin almost wanted to scoot away from him, though he restrained and just continued doing his own work.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Everyone was beginning to head home and Michael was finished with his work, so he started putting away his things. Gavin was thinking about leaving, too, but wasn't sure whether to ask for a ride from Geoff.

“Come on, Gavin,” Michael suddenly said, catching the blond off guard, “Let's go.”

Gavin raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, “Go? Where?”

Michael halted in his tracks, heat rising to his cheeks from how embarrassed he felt. He had almost forgotten... almost. Of course Gavin didn't remember that Michael would be his ride home everyday after work. Michael sighed loudly and turned around to face him.

“Everyday, I would give you a ride home,” he explained to Gavin, “because apparently, you never gave a shit about learning how to drive.”

Gavin didn't believe it. Why wouldn't he want to learn how to drive? He had told himself back at home that once he got to the U.S, he would take driving lessons. What had changed his mind? Perhaps too many freebie rides to everywhere got the best of him and he never bothered to learn anymore.

So, he nodded. “Okay, let's go, then.”

Michael walked out first, and Gavin stayed behind, taking a deep breath because he was feeling uncomfortable again. Getting into Michael's car, Gavin could feel the tension between them, that awkward silence slowly enveloping them. Michael would feel it, too, and he hated it. They were best friends, for fuck's sake. It wasn't supposed to be like that, but it was, and Michael cursed under his breath as he drove.

Gavin allowed the first five minutes of the ride remain in dead silence until he couldn't stand it anymore.

“So,” he spoke, causing Michael's eyebrows to raise, “how did we meet? Ray said we were both hired at the same time. Was it just a coincidence or-”

“No,” Michael answered, “not really.”

Gavin blinked, waiting for Michael to go on, and he did, “We were roommates in college. We both liked Rooster Teeth. You went for an interview, and I... well I got lucky and got noticed by them on YouTube. Things just worked out for us.” Michael then grinned, “When we first became roommates, I couldn't stand you. You were a piece of shit and I fucking hated your accent.”

Gavin's eyes widened.

Michael glanced over at him and smiled in amusement at Gavin's expression. “I got used to you, though,” he told the blond.

Gavin didn't know how to react now, but he smiled anyway.

Seeing how confused and uninterested Gavin seemed to be, Michael shook his head and said no more as he concentrated on the road.

When they made it to Gavin's place, Gavin stepped out, turning back to wave at Michael. “Goodnight, Michael,” he said with a soft smile on his face, the same kind of smile he would give Michael in their first few weeks together in college.

Michael couldn't help but return it as he waved as well. “Night, Gav.”

Gavin closed the car door and watched as Michael drove off. There was something really fascinating about Michael. He was nice, but he also had this attitude to him that didn't match that baby face of his at all, but he sure knew how to yell. And Gavin wondered how he could have been best friends with someone who seemed so different from him.

Michael bit his lower lip as he made his way to his own apartment. He felt his eyes starting to burn a bit, but he ignored it as he parked and turned off the car.

He saw the way people treated Gavin at work as if Gavin was a sort of delicate flower, but he also saw how they also attempted to mess around with him the way they used to. Though they would stop the moment they saw how baffled Gavin was over it. It was a sad sight to watch, especially when Michael could notice how badly Gavin wanted to be comfortable around everyone. He tried so hard to make it seem like nothing was wrong, but with no memory of any of it, Gavin just couldn't.

Michael headed inside his home and slammed the door behind him. He stood there, his back against the door and listened to the silence of his apartment.

His diamond pendant caught was still on the coffee table, and he walked over to it, grabbing it as he sat down on the couch. He looked it over carefully in his hand.

“ _No, Michael. We're team nice dynamite, remember?”_

Michael could feel himself getting teary eyed again, but he shook his head, hoping to shake the tears away as well. “I do,” he said quietly, setting the necklace back down, “but you don't.”


	4. Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the most kudos I've ever received. So wow, thanks for reading this so far!! :D

Michael laughed as Gavin shoved him.

“Do you seriously think that's gonna throw me off?” Michael asked him, grinning from ear to ear as he glanced over at Gavin lying next to him on his bed.

“No!” Gavin admitted, not keeping his eyes off the TV screen, “But it was worth a shot!”

“Moron,” Michael teased, and this time, it was Gavin staring at him as Michael concentrated on what he was playing.

“But Michael,” Gavin said softly, “how could I be a 'moron' when I can do this?” he tossed his controller aside and tackled Michael.

“Gavin!” Michael screamed, struggling to get the other off him. He could hear a crash coming from the TV and he knew his character had just died. “God damnit, Gavin! You killed me! NOW GET THE FUCK OFF ME!”

But Gavin didn't even try to as he continued to try and find Michael's possible tickle spot. Michael forced himself to hold in his laughter, though he couldn't stop from at least smiling.

“Gavin, no!” Michael yelled, “Gavin, stop!” He finally lost control and laughed.

Gavin grinned and went on with his torture on his best friend. “Who's the moron, now?”

Michael tried catching his breath, but at the sound of that, he put on his serious face, despite how much he wanted to laugh. He grabbed Gavin by his sides and rolled him over until he was straddling Gavin down on the bed.

“I'm sorry, what was that?” Michael asked, an eyebrow raised.

Gavin stared up at Michael, mouth wide open and eyebrows raised.

“I was caught off guard,” Gavin told him.

“Whatever, _moron_ ,” Michael mumbled as he rolled off Gavin.

They lied there, on their backs and stared up at the ceiling, the game they were playing now completely forgotten. Gavin rested one hand on his chest and the other to his side, almost touching Michael's. He looked over at his friend and smiled.

“Where do you plan to go after college?” He asked.

Michael furrowed his eyebrows and faced the blond. “Nowhere. I'm staying here. I came from Jersey to come live here. I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon.”

“You definitely are staying?” Gavin asked.

Michael was about to answer with a snarky comment, but as he saw the hopeful expression on Gavin's face, he sighed and said, “Yeah, for sure.” Though he didn't understand why Gavin almost seemed afraid of his answer.

But Gavin smiled again. “I'm glad. I don't know what I'd do without you.”

Michael rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling again. “You'd be fine, Gavin.”

“I just... I don't have many friends here, or any at all, really, and I would hate to lose my best friend. It's already hard having Dan live so far away.”

Best friend. The sound of those words coming from Gavin's mouth caused the corners of Michael's lips to rise. Gavin looked down at their hands near each other, and slowly, he moved his a little closer until they were barely touching back to back.

“I'm not going anywhere, Gavin,” Michael told him. “Don't worry.”

And Gavin slowly opened his eyes, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought about what he had just dreamed. It made absolutely no sense, and he didn't know why he'd be dreaming about someone he felt like he just met. The way they had interacted in the dream made it seem as though they had been really close. Michael had mentioned that they had been roommates in college, but Gavin just didn't know how well of friends they had actually become.

He sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes as the dream replayed in his mind.

A part of him wanted to ask Michael about it. Had that really happened? Or was he just making up things in his head based on what he knew? Gavin kind of hoped it was a memory playing as a dream. It would mean he was a step closer to gaining his full memory back, and that was all he wanted. Having amnesia was like a bad hangover that just wouldn't go away, and he was bloody tired of feeling confused all the time.

Seeing the time, he knew he had to get ready soon before Geoff arrived to pick him up for work, though he couldn't be bothered with trying to forget about that dream. He attempted to go over it as he showered, trying to pinpoint what it meant.

He received a text from Geoff when he was done getting dressed to let him know that he was outside waiting for him. Gavin was heading out when the creeper pendant caught his attention. A smile curled up on his lips and he walked over to grab it before heading out.

“Good morning, Geoff,” Gavin greeted as he got into the car.

“Hey, Gavin,” Geoff replied with a smile.

Gavin sighed and debated whether to ask Geoff about Michael, or just talk directly to Michael.

“What's up?” Geoff asked, and Gavin's eyes widened.

“What do you mean?”

“Something's on your mind.”

“Wha- how can you tell?”

Geoff laughed and shook his head. “You may not remember, Gavin, but I got to know you pretty damn well. I can tell when something's bugging you. So, what's up?”

Although Gavin did feel surprisingly close to Geoff, he still wasn't sure about talking about it. He looked out the window and asked himself whether he should or shouldn't. Geoff smiled but didn't look at him.

“It's okay, buddy,” Geoff said, “you don't have to tell me anything.”

And that was enough for Gavin to get his internal answer.

“How close were Michael and I?” He asked Geoff.

Geoff raised an eyebrow. “Well, uh... from what I saw and heard, you two were the best of friends.” He grinned a bit and went on, “You two were so close that everyone would fuck around with you two and say you guys were in love with each other,” he laughed.

Gavin wrinkled his nose at the thought.

Geoff immediately stopped laughing when he noticed Gavin's reaction, and cleared his throat before saying, “Yeah, well, we were always just joking, and you guys would know that.”

“It's that I had this dream,” Gavin began, “of him and I in a room, it seem to be a dorm. We were playing some sort of video game, in which I'm assuming was Grand Theft Auto.”

Geoff nodded slowly as he listened.

“And I'm just wondering whether that maybe was a...” Gavin stopped though, once he realized how pathetic it sounded.

Geoff glanced at him and asked, “Was a what?”

Gavin licked his lips as he looked down at his hands, “A possible memory and just a dream.”

“Well, you could always ask Michael.”

“Don't you think that's stupid?”

“What? Dreaming about memories? No. Something probably triggered your memor-” Geoff had to stop speaking as he noticed what was around Gavin's neck.

“What is it?” Gavin asked, looking up to face Geoff.

“Your necklace,” Geoff said, grinning again.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Having to wake up everyday to reality that your best friend didn't even remember who you were was one of the most dreadful things for Michael. He wanted to roll over and fall back asleep until Gavin called him to tell him his memory was back, and they could return to their normal routine. He hated not being able to blatantly flirt with Gavin and get the flirty comments returned. It was a dumb and such a middle school thing to do, but Michael really didn't just want to _tell_ Gavin that he maybe, sort of liked him, in a romantic kind of way.

He sighed loudly as he got himself out of bed and ready to go to work.

Michael had done research on amnesia. There had been many times where a person never retrieved their memory back, and after reading about ten stories like that, Michael shut off his laptop so he wouldn't feel any doubt. The doctor had said to treat Gavin as if nothing had happened to help him, but Michael just couldn't. It sucked saying and doing things and having Gavin not understand it.

It wasn't worth that stupid ache in his chest he'd receive afterwards from another failed attempt. If it were a video game, he would have just fucking rage quit it on the second day. But this was Gavin. Michael didn't quite want to give up on Gavin yet. He couldn't. No matter how impatient he was becoming, he just knew he wouldn't give up hope and try to start everything over. He wanted to keep his belief that little by little, Gavin would remember, even if it was just a few things. Michael just needed Gavin to remember something – to recall that bond they had between them.

Michael shrugged and grabbed his diamond pendant before heading out.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Michael arrived to work around the same time Gavin and Geoff had. Gavin felt himself tense up at the sight of the curly haired guy, his dream beginning to play over in his mind again, how close to each other they were... how close Gavin _wanted_ to be to him. He quickly turned away and walked into the building before Michael could reach them.

Michael locked his car and smiled at Geoff, “Hey, Geoff.”

“Morning, Michael,” Geoff replied.

Michael held open the door for Geoff but before Geoff stepped inside, he whispered to Michael, “I have some good news for you.”

“Like what?” Michael asked.

Geoff's eyes shifted down to see the pendant and he smiled, “Gavin's wearing his creeper one.” He stepped inside, leaving Michael to stand there, practically dumbfounded.

There had to be a reason for Gavin to wear it. There just _had_ to be. The corners of Michael's lips rose as he finally walked into the building, his heart speeding up as he reached the Achievement Hunter office. Gavin was already sitting in his desk, listening to some story Ryan was telling him and Jack. Michael looked over Gavin and froze momentarily as he spotted the necklace.

“Oh jeez, Ryan,” Jack commented on Ryan's story as he laughed.

Gavin laughed softly, too, and then noticed Michael standing in the doorway, just staring at him. He turned his head to face him, a tingly feeling creeping up in his stomach.

“Can I help you?” Gavin asked him, hoping his voice didn't give him away.

Michael blinked hard and shook his head. “No,” he mumbled and walked over to his desk.

But it didn't take Gavin long to notice Michael's necklace.

“Oh, you've got a minecraft pendant, too?” Gavin asked, a gentle smile on his face.

Michael sighed quietly through his nose and merely nodded.

“Are you alright?” Gavin asked him, sensing the bad vibes radiating off Michael.

“Oh yeah, I'm fine,” Michael answered quite sternly, “just peachy.”

Gavin pursed his lips and looked away from him. He figured on days when Michael was in a bad mood, he would have been the one to cheer him up, but he didn't know how to now. But he did want to attempt. If Michael had been his best friend, then Gavin was determined to make that possible again. He smiled as he came up with what to do. He raised his hand and patted Michael on the back.

Michael looked at him but said nothing.

“Don't be a downer, Michael,” Gavin told him, scooting his chair closer to him. “I'm sure whatever's bothering you won't matter anymore tomorrow.”

Michael wanted to laugh, though he kept still and took a deep breath.

“I'm not so sure,” he replied, shaking his head.

“Well one thing's for sure,” Gavin went on, “being negative isn't going to help anything.”

Michael narrowed his eyes at the blond. “Why are you wearing that?” He suddenly asked.

The question had nothing to do with what they were talking about, but Michael wanted an answer. Gavin raised an eyebrow and pointed to his pendant.

“This?” He asked.

Michael nodded.

Gavin looked at it and shrugged, “It was in my bedroom and I like it.” He smiled. “Why?”

Michael took another deep breath to calm himself down. He turned his body to face Gavin more properly and reached over to gently grabbed the pendant. Gavin watched him carefully, not saying a word and barely moving as Michael inspected it.

“This has more meaning to it than you think,” Michael said.

“It does?” Gavin asked.

Michael looked up and nodded. Gavin swallowed the lump he felt in his throat. He didn't know why Michael was making him so uneasy, but it really wasn't the bad kind of nervousness. He guessed it had to be because of the dream, the thoughts from it were making it difficult to remain calm around Michael. He had the urge to ask Michael about it, with Michael looking at him in such a way, he really couldn't find the words to speak. Gavin found himself counting the freckles on Michael's face, a smile forming on his own face as he did so.

But then Michael let go of the pendant and turned his attention back to his computer screen.

“Just how close were we, Michael?” Gavin finally had the guts to ask.

Michael looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening to them, but it seemed that Jack and Ryan were pretty occupied by what they were during to even care. Michael then faced Gavin again.

“Would we stay up all night together and play video games until we fell asleep?” Gavin casually asked.

Michael furrowed his eyebrows. “When you put it that way, it sounds so dumb... but yeah,” he nodded, “we would. Which would sometimes screw us over the next morning when we were falling asleep in every class.” He shook his head as he smiled, “but we never learned or we just didn't care, because we would keep doing it.”

Gavin snickered. That did sound like something he would do, but then his eyes widened.

“What?” Michael asked as he noticed the change in Gavin's expression.

Something kept stopping Gavin from just telling Michael about his dream. It was as if he was too shy or embarrassed to do so, and instead, he shrugged it off.

“I just...” Gavin quickly looked away and he tried thinking up something else to say. His smile returned, though, as he came up with the answer. He looked Michael in the eye and said, “I'm just pretty confident about my memory coming back.”

“Yeah, you better be,” Michael told him.

Gavin laughed, but as he saw Michael staying serious, he stopped.

“Really?” He asked.

Michael hated this. He hated what he was about to say, but he couldn't help himself anymore.

“Yeah, because I really fucking miss you, Gavin,” he said softly.

Gavin slowly frowned. A part of him wanted to say he missed Michael, too, but he didn't, not when he felt like he didn't even really know Michael. He didn't want to lie, and so, he looked away and only nodded.

And it was why Michael hadn't wanted to say anything at all.


	5. Five

He had been avoiding it for the fact that he wasn't sure how to react to what he would find. But Gavin knew it was time that he would actually look through his cell phone. There were pictures, text message conversations, and maybe even voice mails that could help trigger memories. He wasn't going to pass that opportunity up. Hesitantly, he grabbed the phone off the coffee table where it had been sitting since his accident. The battery was half charged from hardly being used since then, and Gavin furrowed his eyebrows as he saw that he needed a passcode for it.

Bollocks.

It was his cell phone, sure, but he had no clue what he would have made the password.

He tried a few of the passwords he used to use until finally one unlocked the phone, and he was suddenly relieved at himself for actually never bothering to come up with any new passwords. He stared at the menu screen, unsure of what to look at first.

The message app was staring right at him, though, and with little thought, he pressed it.

There were conversations from Geoff, Ray, Barbara, Lindsay, Burnie, Kerry, and Michael. He wanted to read them all, but the one he was most curious about was definitely the one from Michael. He just had to know more of how their interactions were. And so, he clicked on the conversation and began to read from the bottom.

 

> Michael - April 4, 2013 11:19 AM: So are you coming or not?
> 
> Gavin: Yeah just a sec
> 
> Michael: I don't have a sec, gavin! Hurry up
> 
> Gavin: I know you wont leave
> 
> Michael: oh i'm going! I'm fucking starving and our break is only an hour
> 
> Michael: Gavin where the hell are you? I'll give you five more minutes
> 
> Michael – April 4, 2013 11:32 AM: Gavin?
> 
> Michael: fuck you i'm leaving
> 
> Michael – April 4, 2013 12:26 PM: I brought you something back
> 
> Gavin: Thanks Michael
> 
> Michael: oh now you reply?!!!! where were you?!!!!
> 
> Gavin: I got held up upstairs with Burnie and Geoff. I didnt want to text mid conversation with them
> 
> Michael: Whatever. Just come back so I can give you your stupid food.
> 
> Gavin: On my way!!!

 

Gavin wrinkled up his nose at that conversation. Michael was certainly... interesting, the way he could be a nice friend one moment, and then seem to be a complete asshole the next, but then back again. Gavin shrugged and scrolled up more to read the next.

 

> Michael – April 9, 2013 1:25 AM: You awake?
> 
> Gavin: I am!
> 
> Michael: I cant sleep
> 
> Gavin: I can come over
> 
> Michael: Yeah how? You dont drive
> 
> Gavin: or you can come over :)
> 
> Michael: you dont mind?
> 
> Gavin: Why would I?
> 
> Michael: I'll see you soon

 

Gavin mentally wondered whether what possibly could have happened when Michael did come over that night – er, morning. He started to imagine a grumpy Michael with tired eyes but still unable to find the peace to drift off to sleep showing up at his door not long after sending that text. A smile began to form on his face, but he shook it off and continued to read.

 

> Michael – April 15, 2013 8:30 AM: Hey Gavin
> 
> Gavin: Michael! I was just thinking about you
> 
> Michael: It's fucking 8:30 in the morning. You woke up thinking about me?
> 
> Gavin: Haha i've been awake since seven.
> 
> Michael: ok. Why were you thinking about me?
> 
> Gavin: because you're my Michael <3
> 
> Michael: haha i'll always be your Michael as long as you're my Gavin

 

Gavin stopped reading there and exited the conversation. There was something about the way that conversation was going that made him nervous. He felt a tingle in his stomach and he swallowed hard, as if that would make it go away. He decided to skim through the other conversations he had with everyone else and only stop unless something caught his attention. It was when he reached his conversation with Barbara that he stopped scrolling when he read the words, “Are you going to tell him?”

Tell who what, exactly?

Gavin read on.

 

> Gavin: I cant ruin our friendship
> 
> Barbara: you cant hide your feelings forever either
> 
> Gavin: i'm comfortable with the way things are going
> 
> Barbara: but he feels the same. I know he does.
> 
> Gavin: Nah
> 
> Barbara: Stop being so afraid, Gavin. Take a risk!!

 

It was like someone had just punched him in the chest the moment he saw the date those text messages were exchanged – May 3, 2013; the day of the accident he didn't remember happening. That day he was supposedly going to admit his feelings to... Michael? Gavin could only assume that was who Barbara was talking about. It only made sense for it to be Michael. And that left Gavin wondering whether he had taken that risk. Had he told Michael anything?

Gavin's eyes widened.

He hoped that nothing ever did happen between Michael and him. He already felt terrible for not being able to remember his best friend. He didn't want to feel even worse for not remembering his possible boyfriend.

Trying not to dwell on it, Gavin exited his messages and went on to look through his photos. It really didn't surprise him the number of photos in the file, and especially when he noticed they were mainly such random kinds. But then he came across photos of him and Michael. Some of them were just of Michael caught off guard, or even some of him smiling directly at the camera. Gavin imagined himself asking Michael to smile and Michael happily obliging, and for some reason, Gavin couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

His laugh subsided as he came across more of the photos. Ones where he was basically cuddled against Michael with Michael leaning into him, or where it looked like they were trying to take a decent photo together, but whoever was taking it for them tapped the button the moment they were laughing at each other. And Gavin could see it – he could see just how fond of Michael he was, and even how much Michael seemed fond of him.

Michael meant something to him, something more than just a best friend...

And Gavin couldn't remember.

He couldn't remember what they found so funny in that picture, or how exactly he got Michael to just smile at the camera for him. He was only making assumptions, and he hated that. He didn't want assumptions. He wanted the truth. He wanted to be able to think back and just _know_.

Gavin jumped up from the couch and had the urge to toss the phone against the wall, to see it smash and fall hard onto the floor, because what was the point of it anymore? What was the point of anything? It wasn't fair that everyone around him knew all these things about him, knew things they did with him, and he had no idea what the hell they were talking about half the time.

Three weeks, almost a month, and still nothing.

Three weeks.

Occasionally when walking into a certain room or hearing a certain word would make him stop in his tracks and feel a sort of deja-vu. That only seem to irritate him further, because he would be left more confused than before. Such as why did those certain things give him deja-vu? What significance did they hold?

But as always, he would be left with no answers and annoyed as hell about it, too.

Gavin didn't try to be angry. He wanted to see a possible bright side to amnesia, but the problem was, there wasn't any. There was nothing good about forgetting the last two years of his life, and he didn't want to pretend like he was okay anymore.

He wasn't okay.

Looking down at the phone gripped tightly in his now sweaty hand, Gavin unlocked it again, and this time, he went to his contacts. He scrolled down, seeing names he recognized from work, and names that felt completely strange to be there. He scrolled until he found Geoff's name and pressed 'call'.

On the third ring, Geoff answered, “Gavin?”

Gavin felt his eyesight becoming blurry with the tears wanting to escape, but he sniffled and held the phone up to his ear.

“Hey, Geoff,” he said softly.

“Hey you alright?”

Gavin's lower lip quivered at the words he heard. No, he was far from alright. He was tired and confused and he was sick of it.

“Gavin?” Geoff's voice came again and Gavin sighed shakily, hesitate at what he wanted to say next.

“I need someone to talk to,” he told Geoff.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Michael leaned against the wall of Ray's living room, and he crossed his arms as he sighed.

“Sorry about Gavin,” Ray spoke up, “just come sit down.”

“Nah, I'm fine,” Michael answered.

“Fine, then I'll stand up,” Ray said as he made his way over to stand next to Michael.

It had been like that, quiet and slightly awkward, but Ray had asked Michael to come over to his place to talk, specifically about Gavin. He could tell Michael had so much on his mind to let out and Ray wanted to give him the chance to do so now – even if it was a slow process.

“You don't have to hide it, you know,” Ray started, seeing as Michael wasn't going to, “your feelings for him. We all could see how you guys felt about each other-”

“What's your point?” Michael interrupted, though Ray knew he didn't mean it rudely from the way his expression and voice remained soft.

Ray licked his lips as he tried to find his point, “My point is,” he sighed, “treating him the way you used to can help him.”

“Yeah, that's what I keep hearing, but I just want him back now. I don't wanna have to go through this whole thing.”

“It takes time.”

“It's fucking taking too long.”

“It's been three weeks.”

“Too long, Ray!”

Ray looked down at his feet, because he agreed. It was taking longer than he expected for Gavin to get his memory back, but he didn't want Michael to know he agreed. And they stood there again, that awkward silence daring to envelope them, but Michael didn't allow it this time.

“I don't wanna treat him like nothing's wrong, Ray,” Michael said and Ray looked up to face him, “because you know what happens when I do that?” Ray didn't answer, though. He waited for Michael to go on.

“He just looks at me, Ray,” Michael continued, “He has no fucking idea what I'm even talking about, and it pisses me off!”

Ray squinted his eyes as he thought about what his friend had just said. “Are you sure it's not something else?” He asked.

Michael furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Ray. “What?”

“It doesn't piss you off,” Ray explained, “It makes you sad that you guys can't be the same, but well, you disguise it as anger,” he smirked, clearly trying to cheer up Michael in the best way he could.

Michael rolled his eyes and Ray frowned, knowing his attempt didn't exactly work.

“Well,” Michael spoke, “wouldn't _you_ be if the person that meant the most to you can't even remember who the hell you are?” He pulled himself off the wall and took a few steps towards the door before halting in his tracks.

Ray was trying to be there for him. He couldn't just walk out.

As Ray noticed Michael wasn't going to leave, he took the opportunity to say, “I don't know how that feels, Michael, so nothing I can say will help you feel better.”

Michael merely shrugged at that, not knowing what to say, and not wanting to face Ray with the look of defeat on his face.

“But,” Ray said, walking over to Michael, “I can tell you that if Gavin happens to never remember anything, that doesn't mean you can't get him back.” He gently placed his hand on Michael's shoulder. “He's not dead.”

And Ray was right – though Michael hated the idea of having to start over with Gavin, but Ray had a point. Michael finally turned around to face him and slowly, his lips curled up to smile at him.

 

 

* * *

 

 

From the moment Geoff arrived at Gavin's place, it was pure yelling nonstop. Gavin was yelling angrily about everything; about how annoyed he was about having to deal with amnesia. About how much he didn't want to deal with it anymore, that he just wanted to remember already.

Geoff tried talking to him, but Gavin went on, practically red in the face and eyes watery.

Gavin yelled about how he wanted to know why he would look at Michael the way he would in certain pictures, in which then he would show Geoff to show him what he was talking about. He then proceeded to showing Geoff the text messages, and he asked _why_. Why would he and Michael talk that way to each other? He wanted to know, so badly, because he could tell that what he felt for Michael wasn't platonic. And it frustrated him.

“Gavin, hey,” Geoff spoke louder as he tried to get through to Gavin again, “hey!” He grabbed Gavin by the arm, gently but also roughly enough to get the blond's attention.

“Gavin!” Geoff called again.

Gavin was breathing heavily, a few tears managing their way down his face. He was eye-to-eye with Geoff now, and he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly to relax. He didn't understand why he had just freaked out in such a way. It was the feelings he had been holding in, the annoying fact that he was confused about so many things. It finally all caught up with him, and he just had to let it out.

“Sorry,” he said suddenly, “I'm bloody losing my mind.”

“It's okay,” Geoff told him, letting go of his arm.

Gavin wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and sat down on the couch. He signaled for Geoff to join him, and Geoff did.

“Tell me everything, Geoff,” Gavin said, “everything you know. Don't hold back anymore. I want to know, because no one else will tell me.”

Everything.

How much was everything?

Geoff leaned back into the couch as Gavin did. Gavin looked at him curiously, his head tilted a bit. Geoff knew he was waiting for him to speak up and that he was taking much too long to do so.

Everything, Gavin had said.

And Geoff nodded. 


	6. Six

Gavin and Geoff had talked – hours as it turned out to be, and Gavin felt like he understood so much more now. It was a relief, too. He could now somewhat understand better where he had left off in life before the accident. Geoff had explained to Gavin his relationship with everyone, especially his relationship with Michael. Gavin had told Geoff to not hold back, and Geoff didn't. He told Gavin everything he knew about the two of them and Gavin didn't seem surprised by any of it.

“So, basically what you're saying is I had a crush on Michael?” He asked Geoff.

“If you can call it that,” Geoff said with a shrug, “I always just knew you two had something more special than just best friends.”

And even though it was something Gavin had slowly figured out, he couldn't help but feel like a kid in high school again, with that crush on the person they believed to be too good for them. That crush they felt would never happen and would immediately, but mentally, freak out and stutter at any interaction with said person. He felt the butterflies upon seeing Michael when he went to work on Monday morning.

It wasn't really butterflies for having feelings for Michael, but from knowing he _had_ feelings, that those feelings had existed. And it was as though, just from knowing it had been a thing, he could just _feel_ how Michael had made him feel before. Gavin knew that just because he didn't remember, deep down somehow, he still harbored those feelings for Michael. Even if it was all confusing and he barely knew Michael, those feelings had to be there still.

Memories weren't feelings.

And that's what caused the butterflies.

It also didn't help the way Michael began treating him.

“Hey Gavin,” Michael had greeted that morning, sounding so casual but wearing a sweet smile.

Gavin couldn't resist returning it with an almost shy, “Hi Michael.” And he was staring at the freckles on Michael's face, how they perfectly complimented his pale, soft skin.

Sitting next to each other in the office was the most difficult part when every now and so, Michael would do something to sneak in a slight touch. The first few times, Gavin flinched at it, and Michael would pretend nothing happened, but as it continued to happen – a touch on his arm, shoulder, or even playful slap on his thigh – Gavin became accustomed to it. He even liked it. He liked having Michael's attention.

He liked that Michael was actually treating him like a friend and not like some person he had to be delicate with. He liked not feeling like a stranger around him, and so, as the friendliness continued, he allowed it, even going as far as to try and mimic it.

“Record with us today,” Michael told him as the others got their games ready.

Gavin stared at him, eyes wide and lips parted.

“Come on, Gav,” Michael urged, “it can't be that hard.”

And it wasn't. Gavin felt like he knew everyone enough to act like an idiot with them, but he was just... nervous. He agreed, though, and started setting everything up, receiving cheers from the other Achievement Hunters.

Michael smiled, proud he had convinced Gavin to play with them; relieved he was helping his best friend.

It would take time, Ray had told him, and Michael could wait. For Gavin, he could.

The days went on like that – Gavin interacted more with everyone, beginning to mess around with certain people as he used to. Some people even thought for a moment that Gavin had regained his memory, but he hadn't, and they would realize that before asking.

No one wanted to mention the amnesia around Gavin, especially after Geoff told them how sensitive Gavin was about having to deal with it. Even though everyone didn't feel like the close people Gavin knew they once were, he still tried to just go with it. When someone made a joke with him, he would laugh even if it barely made sense. When someone would randomly hug him, he would return it. When someone brought up a story, he would listen carefully, trying to get all the details because unlike everyone else, it was technically the first time he had heard the story.

And it worked to a certain extent. He was still annoyed – no doubt – but it was working. Gavin knew he just had to keep holding on to the hope. He still didn't want to think about never remembering those lost memories. He didn't want to know he forgot two years of his life, so he kept hoping, because it was all he could do.

 

 

* * *

 

“Alright, Gavin,” Michael said as he pulled into the driveway of Gavin's apartment complex, “see you tomorrow.”

Gavin didn't move, though. He sat there, staring forward.

“Hey,” Michael snapped his fingers, “come on. Get some rest.”

Gavin sighed through his nose and looked at him. “Come inside.”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “What? Into your apartment?” Gavin nodded.

“I'm tired and it's late-”

“Michael,” Gavin whined, “only for a little while.”

Michael snickered. Gavin was being... Gavin, and Michael couldn't say no to that.

“Fine,” he said, turning off his car before getting out.

Gavin grinned and got out as well. He wasn't quite sure why he wanted Michael to hang out him, but he had a pretty good idea why. To merely get himself even more comfortable around his “best friend” and apparent “love interest”. Gavin heard the beep of Michael's car locking as he entered the building. It was quiet and lonely inside, the only real noise being from the elevator as they used it.

Neither of them spoke, and Gavin frowned. Silent awkwardness was not what he was expecting. He wanted to be passed that already. The silence went on as they made their way into Gavin's apartment, but that's when Michael finally spoke.

“So, TV?” He asked Gavin.

Gavin sighed in relief and nodded.

Michael sat down onto the couch, immediately making himself comfortable, and Gavin smiled at the sight. Michael noticed and quickly jumped up from his seat.

“Oh, shit... sorry,” he mumbled.

Gavin furrowed his eyebrows, “For what, exactly?”

“It's just... I used to... but-”

Gavin knew what Michael was trying to say and he wanted to roll his eyes, but he shrugged instead. “No, Michael,” he spoke, “go ahead. I don't want you acting differently around me at all. I like how we've been with each other these past few days.”

Michael blinked hard. “Are you serious?”

Gavin nodded and sat down, patting the spot next to him until Michael sat back down.

“I finally don't feel left out,” Gavin told him. “It's nice.”

Michael's eyebrows rose at the realization of how he most likely had part in making Gavin feel like an outcast.

“Gavin, look,” he started to explain himself, “I never meant to-”

“Don't apologize, you sausage,” Gavin teased him, smiling wide, “I can understand why. I would have felt odd treating you the same way if you couldn't remember who I was.”

Michael nodded, his eyes shifting down to stare at his hands. He couldn't help but feeling like shit.

“But I do have a question for you,” Gavin said, and Michael looked at him. “You have been treating me how I assume you used to treat me... but does it still bother you that for me, it only feels like I met you a month ago?”

 _Fuck yeah it kinda does,_ Michael thought to himself, though on the outside, he smiled and said, “You're still Gavin.”

Gavin's eyes squinted at the question. “You said you missed me.”

Michael sighed loudly, because that was something he wanted to pretend didn't happen. He rubbed his face. “Yeah,” he answered, “and I do.” Staring forward to the TV that was never bothered to be turned on, Michael licked his lips. “I'm frustrated,” he admitted, “that you can't really get all the inside jokes and why I-” And he stopped himself before he could say anymore.

Gavin noted the abrupt stop in Michael's sentence and asked him what was wrong.

Michael didn't want to have that conversation, though. He dreaded speaking about his feelings, especially to the person his feelings were focused on. It wasn't easy for him, to just be open about it. Gavin had a sort of affect on him that no one Michael ever found himself interested in did. Michael figured it had to do with the way he slowly developed feelings for Gavin – gradually, like it was meant to happen all along, just waiting for the right moment to be revealed. And Michael didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to explain how he wished Gavin would get his memory back so he could remember those unspoken feelings between them.

But with Gavin staring at him, he knew he couldn't get away from this. He had to say something.

“It's nothing,” he said, out of all the things he could have said instead.

Gavin narrowed his eyes. “Michael, don't lie.”

“Yeah, I'm not.”

“You are.”

That was enough. Michael wasn't comfortable with this. He got up from the couch and headed right for the door, mumbling something to Gavin about needing to leave.

Gavin sat there a second, dumbfounded and annoyed.

No.

He wasn't going to let Michael walk out like that. He wanted more answers. Geoff gave him a lot, but he wanted them directly from Michael.

“But Michael you just got here,” Gavin said to him, jumping up from the couch.

“Yeah, but I gotta go, it's late and-”

“Michael!”

Michael felt nervous and he hated it, and it was because of that, he ended up growling and shouting at Gavin, “What, _Gavin_? What do you want?!” And instantly regretting the tone in his voice as he saw Gavin's eyes widened. The blond took a step back, not understanding what had set Michael off.

“Oh god, Gavin, I'm sorry,” Michael began, but Gavin wasn't listening anymore.

He was staring off at the wall, eyebrows furrowed as he got lost in thought, or just lost in his mind.

“ _Why are you shutting me out, Michael?” Gavin asked him as Michael headed for the door._

“ _Why won't you leave me alone?!” Michael shouted at him._

_Gavin wanted to laugh. Why wouldn't he leave Michael alone? Well that was a stupid question that had an obvious answer. “Because I'm your friend, Michael! And I bloody care about you!”_

“ _Just leave me alone!” Michael grabbed the doorknob of their dorm's door, but Gavin managed to grab his arm and hold him back._

“ _Don't go,” Gavin begged him. “I wanna help you.”_

_It was words Michael hadn't realized he wanted to hear, but there they were. His eyes were teary as he turned around to face Gavin. “You can't always help me, Gavin,” he practically choked out, “not this time.”_

_The pain in his friend's eyes was enough to make Gavin's chest ache._

“ _I can try,” he told Michael in such a sweet, soothing voice that Michael felt weak. It was then that Gavin let go of Michael's arm and wrapped his arms around him._

_At first, Michael just stood there, but he wanted this. He wanted that hug. Slowly, he closed his eyes as he returned the hug, smiling at Gavin's comforting embrace._

_He needed it._

_He needed Gavin._

“Gavin!” Michael called, keeping his tone steady but loud enough for Gavin to hear him. He was cupping Gavin's face, repeating his name over and over as Gavin seemed to in some sort of trance. And it was freaking Michael the hell out.

“Gavin!” Michael tried again. Gavin blinked hard and shook his head, but when he opened his eyes again, he gasped to find himself face-to-face with Michael.

“Hey, are you alright?” Michael asked him.

Gavin furrowed his eyebrows again, but slowly nodded.

“Okay,” Michael sighed in relief, putting his hands down and half wanting to suggest staying over, but he quickly decided against it. “I'm going home now to sleep,” even though he felt it'd be better to stay with Gavin, especially after what had just happened to him. “I'll see you tomorrow at work.” Yet something kept telling him to go home.

Gavin didn't seem to care as he nodded again, continuing to not saying a word. He watched as Michael walked to the door, the flashback playing in his head. He didn't know what to do or say. It was such a random thing to remember, but his heart was racing. At least he was remembering something, and from the excitement, he couldn't speak. He saw Michael leave and then he just stood there, his eyes still on the door.

“Don't go,” he whispered, repeating the words from... what was it? A memory? An actual one? He had actually just remembered something, and from knowing that, Gavin stood there, his eyes on the door. He couldn't move or say a thing from how amazed and a little shocked he was.

“God damnit, Gavin,” Michael mumbled to himself as he made his way towards the elevator, “Get it together. I don't wanna lose you.”    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be the final one :)


	7. Seven

Gavin stood still as he made it to the bottom of the staircase. He stared up at the building of the university, luggage clutched in his hands. His eyes were squinted as the warm Texas sun beamed down on him. It felt unreal that he was actually there, in Austin, Texas, in a completely different country than the one who was born and raised in. He always thought about this day where he would up and leave the comfort of his home to venture into something different, something he would be able to look back on with a smile. It wasn't just that he wanted a new start, though. It was also the silly little dream of wanting to work for Rooster Teeth. He had fallen in love for the company the moment he started watching its series of Red Vs. Blue. The way Rooster Teeth seemed to handle themselves intrigued Gavin so much that he knew that's what he wanted to do in his life – that was his dream job.

And though the dream seemed ridiculous to achieve, he earned support of his family and friends. It was with their support that he got the courage to actually go through with enrolling into colleges and universities in and near Austin. The day he was finally accepted into one of them was a day he almost lost his voice from how loud he was cheering. Totally worth it, though.

And fast forward to three months later, Gavin stood there, in awe of it all.

He saw how other students grabbed their things and walked into the building, some with parents helping them. And Gavin smiled.

He was about to meet his roommate. The only thing he knew about the guy was that his name was Michael Jones and he was a computer science major just as he was. Other than that, Gavin knew nothing about his roommate and because of that, he was really looking forward to meeting him, befriending, becoming those inseparable best friends who would occasionally skip a late night of studying for the college parties. They didn't always have to play by the rules.

With a grin, Gavin headed up the stairs and followed the others into the building. His dorm room was on the third floor and he tried quickly making his way up there without running into anyone, which almost proved impossible with all the chaos. Everyone who had left for the summer was cluttering the halls, slowly pushing everything into their rooms and saying their goodbyes to their families.

“Oh, excuse me,” Gavin would say before squeezing in between some people and receive glares from them in return.

So far, he wasn't making such a good impression on anyone, but he didn't mind. He only intended on getting on his roommate's good side. He could worry about everyone else later.

As he got onto the third floor, he found it pretty crowded as the other two, except for a door towards the door. It was closed with no one surrounding it, and as Gavin got closer, he realized, it was his dorm. But why did it seem so lonely? He figured his roommate hadn't arrived yet and expected a whole family to be there soon to wish Michael a good year. Though, Gavin found the door unlocked and stepped in to see who he assumed to be Michael, lying on a bed on the right side of the room.

Gavin's eyebrows rose at the sight, but he put on a smile and said, “Hi, I'm Gavin and you're-”

“Michael,” Michael mumbled, though he didn't bother looking up from his cell phone.

Gavin slowly frowned and closed the door behind him so no one would interrupt them. The silence inside bothered him, but he felt too awkward to say anything now. He went ahead and set his things down next to the other bed, setting one specific bag on top of the bed so he could unpack his clothes. And that's when he heard a creak coming from the other bed.

Looking over his shoulder, Gavin found Michael getting up from his bed. The corners of his lips rose into a grin as he fully turned around and extended his hand. Michael looked at it, his eyebrows furrowed, and then he looked at Gavin. Gavin waited, keeping his smile on and his hand out.

“Hi, Michael,” he said, quite loudly he noticed, but he wanted to let Michael know of his excitement. “I've been looking forward to meeting you. I heard about your last roommate-”

“Gavin,” Michael finally spoke, saying the blond's name slowly and sternly. “Free, you said your last name was?”

Gavin's smile faded as he nodded, sensing no friendliness from Michael.

“Gavin Free,” Michael snickered.

“Is there a problem with my name?” Gavin asked, crossing his arms to not seem so offended by Michael.

“No,” Michael said, shaking his head. “Nice to meet you. I guess I'll just be straight up about this... you stay on your side and I'll stay on my side, and we'll have no problems.”

Oh.

Gavin couldn't believe what he was hearing, and he had to pause for a moment before attempting to speak, “Well, actually I-”

“Great,” Michael stopped him, smiling smugly. He walked to the door but halted in his tracks once he got there, “I'm going out now,” he said to Gavin, “I just thought I'd be nice and wait for you to come first before leaving.”

“You're leaving?” Gavin asked, raising his hands up because he really could not believe this was happening.

“Yeah, got a problem with that?” But Michael didn't wait for Gavin to respond. He just opened the door and waved before walking out.

Gavin scoffed, his eyebrows squeezed together in confusion of the situation he had to be put through.

“Yeah, I have a problem,” he said quietly. Sighing deeply, Gavin shook his head and went back to unpacking.

So much for befriending and becoming those inseparable best friends who would occasionally skip a late night of studying for the college parties with Michael freaking Jones.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Despite the failure at having the best roommate ever, Gavin did enjoy his classes, in which said roommate obviously shared many with him. But Michael never bothered talking to him before or after classes, never daring to make eye contact with him during class sessions. He acted as if Gavin didn't exist until he couldn't which would be in the mornings when they were both getting ready for class, or at night when they would be getting into their own beds.

Gavin would stay silent for the first few weeks of living together. He didn't care to try and be nice to Michael if Michael wasn't going to either. But there was just something about Michael that piqued his interest. He _wanted_ to be friends with him. He admired Michael, even though Michael seemed to be such a grouch most of the time. And if they were going to have to live with each other, they should at least try to be friendly.

So it was Gavin that started it, since Michael showed no sign of ever wanting to communicate with Gavin any time soon.

It started with Gavin speaking out loudly, purposely, to see if Michael would comment on anything, but Michael was always indulged in something else. Then it went on to Gavin being completely forward and speaking directly to Michael. That would only leave Gavin feeling silly for even bothering when Michael would merely glare up at him, silently telling Gavin to leave him alone.

Gavin didn't quite leave Michael alone, though. He would begin waking up and greeting Michael with a cheerful, “Hi Michael!” and it did amuse him when he would hear a grumble in response from Michael. And before bed, just as everything got quiet in their dorm, Gavin would turn over in his bed and softly say, “Sweet dreams, Michael.”

It went on like that for about two months. It was awkward as hell and Gavin was amazed he was able to put up with it, but he just kept telling himself “baby steps”. Though those 'baby steps' seem to fall back to just crawling when Gavin noticed how less of Michael he was starting to see. He came to the conclusion that Michael had found ways to avoid him. And he knew Michael would chose the coffee shop or library to study at. It wasn't hard to find that out.

Deep down, it was offending to Gavin how much Michael seemed to dislike him, but he didn't let it get to him. He was confident that he would find a way to get Michael to ease and warm up to him. And it was because of that confidence that he “planned” to study at the library one evening instead of his dorm as usual. From beyond the glass doors, Gavin could see Michael sitting alone inside, getting himself comfortable for a few hours of studying ahead of him.

Gavin could barely contain his smile as he clutched his textbook under his arm and strolled happily inside, pretending as though he didn't see Michael sitting there. He pretended to scan the room for a good spot to sit, definitely able to see the look of dread on Michael's face from his peripheral vision. And that's when he decided to “find” Michael. He ran over to him in excitement, and truthfully, it wasn't fake. He was excited about his next attempt becoming friends with his roommate. He didn't want things to be awkward anymore and he knew this attempt was going to be _the_ attempt.

“Michael!” Gavin said loudly, enough to get the librarian to shush them. Gavin frowned a bit and lowered his voice, “What a coincidence finding you here.”

“I come here like everyday,” Michael sternly answered, opening his eyes again and going back to reading the textbook in front of him.

“You don't like me very much, don't you? Or at all?”

The statement had caught Michael off guard from how bland and sad it sounded, and that was weird, for Gavin, so Michael felt like he  _had_ to turn to face him.

“What?” Michael asked.

Gavin smiled softly. “I'm not an idiot, Michael, even though that's what you tell your friends about me.”

Michael's eyes slightly widened. “How do you-”

“Like I said, Michael, I'm not an idiot.”

Michael was surprised, but he relaxed when he saw Gavin still smiling. The guy was obviously not too offended, or he was just great at covering it up.

“Well, Gavin,” Michael began, “it's not that I don't like you. It's just-”

“Can we just start fresh?” Gavin asked. “I feel like we never actually introduced ourselves to each other.”

“We did.”

Gavin sighed and rolled his eyes. “A quick 'I'm Gavin' and a quiet, 'Michael' in reply isn't the greatest introduction. We don't even know each other.” He held out his hand, that smile on his face. “Hi, I'm Gavin Free.”

Michael furrowed his eyebrows as he looked from Gavin's hand to Gavin's eyes. He really did seem like the friendliest guy, and Michael wanted to hate him, but with how sweet he was being about everything, he kind of couldn't. So he shook Gavin's hand and returned the smile. Gavin's smile curled up more when he noticed Michael's dimples. He never noticed them before. Probably because he had actually never seen Michael smile.

“Hi, Gavin,” Michael said, “I'm Michael Jones.”

Gavin sighed and nodded, “It's nice to meet you, Michael.” He opened up his textbook to the right page. “So, have you done Professor 'old and grouchy”'s homework?”

Michael sighed, realizing he had completely forgotten all about it. “Nope,” he answered, “think you can help me out on it?”

“Of course,” Gavin answered, immediately pulling out his homework, “and maybe after this we can faff around before heading back to the dorm.” He was putting away unnecessary papers that had been pulled out with the homework when he noticed Michael staring at him. He turned to face him. “Something wrong?” He asked.

Michael blinked hard, “What the hell is a 'faff'?”

Gavin grinned, “We're going to be great friends.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Michael liked doing this thing where he would record himself rage quitting video games. It started out with stupid fun, just to amuse friends back at home in New Jersey, but he later discovered how much he did like making those videos and uploading them on YouTube. Gavin was often there during Michael's rage quit sessions, and he enjoyed every bit of it – how angry certain aspects of the games would annoy Michael to the way Michael would literally toss his controller aside with huge force from how frustrated he was. It was an anger that would come but wouldn't stay. Michael would merely shut off the console, relax, and be his somewhat calm self again.

He would receive quite an amount of views, comments, and likes on YouTube from those videos. People would just find Michael's rage hilarious and entertaining, as did Gavin, and Gavin always encouraged Michael to upload more videos even if they weren't rage ones. Michael was just entertaining overall and Gavin knew that any sort of commentary Michael tried would bring him attention. The encouragement always persuaded Michael into doing just that, and just as Gavin predicted, Michael did get more attention.

“Man, I can't believe how many comments this one has,” Michael said as he scrolled through the comment section of the third video had posted. “People are crazy,” he grinned.

Gavin was frantically looking through his drawers, pulling out shirts and stuffing some back in. The noise finally caught Michael's attention and he turned to look at the blond.

“What the hell is your problem?” Michael asked him.

“Have you seen my nice shirt?” Gavin asked, not tearing his eyes off the drawers.

“No.”

“I need it for tomorrow! My interview with Rooster Teeth depends on this!”

“Does it seriously matter how nice you look? If they like you, they'll like you, and if not,” Michael shrugged, “you move on.”

Gavin stopped moving and narrowed his eyes at Michael. “Michael, you know how I feel about this interview.”

“Yeah, I know.” Michael got up from his chair and walked over to kneel down next to Gavin. “I'd be freaking out, too.” He opened up another drawer and began helping with the search.

“I just don't want anything to go wrong,” Gavin explained.

Michael smirked and looked at Gavin, “Hey, it'll be great. You'll be great. Just don't forget about me when you start working there.”

Gavin laughed softly and shook his head. “I couldn't forget you.”

“Good, because...” Michael pulled out Gavin's collar, button down he was looking for and handed it to him, “because where would you be without me?”

Gavin sighed in relief that his shirt was found and he gently took it from Michael. “You're a life savor.”

“No, I'm your best friend,” Michael joked, but Gavin nodded.

“Yes,” Gavin said, “you are.”

And the next day after the interview, Gavin left with a job and a smile only to be surprised with even better news when he got back to the dorm – Michael had also won a job at Rooster Teeth.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“New guy alert,” Ryan said as he walked into the Achievement Hunter office.

Michael and Gavin both rolled their eyes, thinking Ryan was talking about them again.

“It's been almost three months,” Gavin reminded Ryan, “we're not new anymore.”

“Yeah,” Michael added, “we're part of the team.”

Ryan laughed and shook his head. “I wasn't talking about you two, idiots. But since you brought it up...” he walked up behind the two of them and patted their heads, “you'll always be fresh meat to me.”

Gavin shivered at that and Ryan only laughed more.

“Ryan, the creepy guy,” Michael commented.

“So, who's the new guy, then?” Gavin asked Ryan.

“His name is-”

“This way, Ray,” Geoff said as he entered the office with a skinny guy with glasses and dark hair following behind.

“Ray,” Ryan finished his sentence.

Ray looked around the office, impressed with the stacks of video games and equipment.

“Hey!” Michael said cheerfully as he got up from his seat, “new guy, Ray. Nice to meet you.” He held out his hand.

Ray smiled and shook it, “Hey, Michael Jones, right?”

“Yep,” Michael replied, returning the smile.

Ray looked over at Gavin and waved, “And you're Gavin Free.”

“In the flesh!” Gavin said as he jumped up from his chair, proudly displaying himself.

Ray laughed and then proceeded to listening as Geoff showed him his desk and explained to him the things he would be doing for the company. It was all things Michael and Gavin were told when they first started working there, and uninterested in hearing it again, the two went back to working. It didn't take long for Geoff to finish explanation, and shortly after, Ray turned to face Michael.

“So, how's it been working here?” He asked.

Michael shrugged, but kept a smile on his face. “Probably one of the best jobs ever. It can sometimes be hard, but if you love it, it's worth getting exhausted over.”

Ray nodded, liking the sound of that. When he had gotten the call that he was hired to work with Rooster Teeth, he almost believed it to be a joke. But it was real. He managed to get a job working with people he looked up to. A real dream come true. Now he was only struggling with finding a real place to live in.

Michael and Gavin knew exactly how that felt, the accomplishment of getting somewhere they only imagined themselves at. They also knew the feeling of being the “newbie” and therefore, they silently decided to take Ray under their wing, also considering the fact that Ray was younger than them.

“You'll be fine by us, Ray,” Gavin assured him.

Ray smiled at him. “Thanks.”

Michael and Gavin exchanged smirks before turning their attention back to their own screens. Showing Ray around was going to be top, especially showing him how everyone is treated at the company – like family; messed with a shitload, but in a clearly affectionate way.

Rooster Teeth wasn't just a company. It was a family. And Michael and Gavin felt so lucky to be apart of it, especially together.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Gavin didn't catch quite when it had happened, but it didn't even matter. It just happened – his feelings for Michael. When he realized them, it had been while Michael was driving him home as always. It wasn't even different about the particular drive home. Gavin would try changing the station and Michael would complain and change it back, just like every drive. Then Gavin would laugh and do it again anyway.

“You love pissing me off, don't you?” Michael asked, his face serious, but Gavin knew Michael wasn't really angry.

“I just like getting a reaction out of you,” Gavin admitted.

Michael glared at him for a second before turning his attention back to the road. “Asshole,” he mumbled.

“What was that?” Gavin asked, grinning because he knew exactly what he had just heard.

“I said 'asshole',” Michael told him, hitting Gavin in the shoulder playfully.

“Ow,” Gavin complained, rubbing where Michael hit him.

“I barely touched you.”

“It still hurt.”

“Wimp,” Michael teased, hitting him again.

“Oh, sod off,” Gavin said, hitting him back.

“Hey! Don't hit the driver when he's drying.”

“Don't hit the passenger when you're supposed to be paying your full attention to the road!” Gavin told him, yet he hit Michael again.

Michael groaned and punched Gavin in the shoulder, not once taking his eyes off the road.

“Ow!” Gavin whined.

“I can multitask,” Michael said proudly.

Gavin pouted and remained still for the rest of the ride. As usual, Michael put his car in park as he waited for Gavin to get out.

“Alright, here's your stop,” Michael said, turning to smile at Gavin.

Gavin sighed, but nodded. “I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

The blond unbuckled his seat belt, though as he tried opening the door, he was greeted with another punch in the shoulder. He yelped at the surprise it was for him. Michael hadn't expected Gavin to react in that way, and because of it, he burst into a loud laughter. Gavin furrowed his eyebrows and looked over his shoulder to glare at Michael, but as he saw the way Michael clutched his chest from how hard he was laughing, Gavin's expression softened and he couldn't pretend to be offended.

He had seen Michael laugh that hard before, but there was just something different about it this time around – the way his eyes were squinted with visible tears and his nose crinkled, making his freckles seem like smudges of dirt on his nose. Gavin smiled slightly at him, but it was the silence that finally got Michael to stop laughing.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Michael asked him, wiping his eyes and trying to catch his breath.

“No reason,” Gavin told him, though he couldn't turn away. He didn't want to.

It made chills run down Michael's back. No one had ever looked at him like that before, and he didn't know what it meant. All he knew was that he couldn't stop staring back.

“Sweet dreams, Michael,” Gavin spoke.

Michael blinked hard and looked away. Nodding, he said, “Yeah, goodnight.”

Gavin looked down to see Michael's hand holding onto his water bottle and he didn't know why, but he had the huge urge to just touch Michael. And so he did, giving into that temptation as he gently placed his hand on top of Michael's, giving it a gentle squeeze. Michael faced Gavin again, an expression that clearly revealed that Michael was feeling a bit uneasy. Gavin was about to pull his hand away, mentally scolding himself for even doing that. It was so dumb, but he couldn't help himself, and now he regretted it.

That was until Michael picked up his hand and grabbed Gavin's, this time, he was the one giving the squeeze. Gavin held his breath as he met with Michael's eyes. The corners of Michael's lips rose into a small smile and Gavin smiled back at him before Michael pulled his hand away. Gavin let out his breath and finally opened the car door and stepped out.

Michael waved at him before driving off.

They never spoke of it – the hand holding – never once mentioning it. They went on as if nothing happened, but it did happen, and because it did, Gavin found himself unable to stop thinking about Michael in a whole completely different way.

 

 

* * *

 

 

And Gavin remembered. All of it. He just didn't know how... or what exactly was happening to him, but he woke up that next morning after the first flashback, after Michael had left his apartment, and he couldn't stop thinking. He couldn't stop seeing things in his head; memories as he assumed them to be. It left him confused as ever.

When he went into that work later and saw Michael, he felt sick and nervous.

He remembered.

Yes, he did.

And yet, he wasn't sure. Looking at Michael, Gavin still felt isolated.

The desk still didn't feel like his. Ray still didn't ring a huge bell to him, yet he had seen him in his mind when the memories began coming back to him. Nothing still didn't feel the same.

Michael had noticed something was off about Gavin when everyone had gotten up to leave for lunch and Gavin remained in his seat with a glaze look in his eyes.

“Hey, Gav,” Michael tapped Gavin's shoulder, “you coming?”

_So are you coming or not?_ The text message had said, and Gavin's eyes widened as he remembered when he had first received that message.

He had been upstairs with Geoff and Burnie, discussing a possible new show. He had read it and he remembered quickly typing in a reply.

“Gavin?” Michael leaned in closer to the blond sitting next to him still. “Are you zoning out again? Why do you do that?... Gavin!”

Gavin jumped in his seat and turned to face Michael.

“You didn't have to yell,” Gavin told him, “I'm right here.”

“Apparently not.”

“I need a moment.” And with that, Gavin was quickly out of the office.

Michael followed him, though, all the way towards the restroom.

“Do you feel sick?” He asked Gavin, “did you eat something bad? What's going on?”

Gavin halted in his tracks, causing Michael to abruptly stop as well so he wouldn't run into the blond. Gavin turned around to face Michael, staring right into the brown eyes he knew so well, but then his eyes shifted down to see the diamond pendant. His heart picked up pace at the sight of it.

He did remember.

He remembered being excited to meet Michael, and then disappointed about the person Michael seemed to be. He remembered winning him over, though, and them becoming the best friends Gavin had hoped they would become. He remembered them getting hired at Rooster Teeth. He remembered how nervous he had been for the interview, and how Michael had been there for him, supporting him all the way. He remembered the first day Ray had started and how he quickly became part of the team, easily falling into a comfort zone with all of them.

He remembered how slowly, but surely, everyone pretty much had team names with each other – how he was Vav and Ray was X-Ray. How he was Team Nice Dynamite with Michael and the Minecraft creeper and diamond pendants stood for that.

But most of all, he remembered falling in love with Michael.

“Gavin, talk to me, damnit,” Michael said to him, voice calm but his brows furrowed and there was a desperate look on his face.

Gavin remembered. And it was all thanks to Michael – all thanks to Michael for yelling at him the night before. It was almost laughable how _that_ was the thing to trigger everything. If Gavin would have known that Michael's yelling would have triggered it, he would've told Michael to yell at him the moment he woke up confused in the hospital.

“Gavin?” Michael tried again, his voice lower.

And Gavin smiled at him, that bright and goofy smile Michael used to hate when they first met.

“Hi, Michael,” Gavin said.

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Hi, Gavin... do you feel better now-”

“I feel great,” Gavin answered, nodding. He reached out and grabbed Michael's hands. “Michael, I remember.”

Michael's eyes slowly widened. “Y-you... what?”

Gavin laughed at the way Michael stuttered. “Well,” he sighed, “when you yelled at me last night, I started to remember a few things. I shrugged it off as nothing and headed to bed, but this morning, I was hit with so much. I couldn't stop thinking. I thought my head was about to go nuts!”

“What?” Michael breathed out.

“I was confused all morning,” Gavin went on, “which is why I didn't talk. I couldn't understand why I was thinking about things I didn't remember, but then, I realized, just now, I do know those things I've been thinking about. And that... I wasn't thinking... I was remembering!” He grinned. “I won't lie, my head still feels foggy, but I-”

“Gavin, shut up,” Michael interrupted him and Gavin frowned, actually offended this time by Michael.

“But-”

“Shut up,” Michael said, pulling Gavin closer to him that Gavin tensed up at how close their faces were. “Just shut up,” Michael's voice was quiet now, “shut up.”

Michael closed what little space was between them by pressing his lips against Gavin's. Gavin just stood there, letting himself be kissed, but once his head wrapped around what was actually occurring, he closed his eyes and kissed Michael back with force. He let go of Michael's hand and grabbed Michael's face instead as their lips moved together, and Michael brought his body closer to Gavin's.

“I missed you,” Michael whispered as he pulled away slightly, his forehead against Gavin's.

Gavin grinned lopsidedly, opening his eyes a bit. “I'm not the least bit surprised you were the one to bring me back.”

Michael rolled his eyes but smiled. “You're an idiot. Stop being so fucking cheesy.”

“Okay, okay,” Gavin said as he laughed softly.

Michael's face then turned serious as he said, “The next time you want to stay overtime in the office at night, I'm fucking staying with you since apparently you have trouble walking home alone.”

Gavin laughed some more. “I'll have to work on it.”

Michael laughed as well and shook his head, “Yeah, you seriously do.” He gently kissed Gavin again and smiled against his lips as the kiss was returned with the same gentleness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking about a possible epilogue of some sorts to this if people want it. I hope you enjoyed and hope you stay tune for more Mavin fics from me. I am planning on writing them more often.


	8. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say I might do an epilogue, so here it is!!

Gavin and Michael lied on the couch (well, technically Ryan's desk) in the office with Gavin resting his shoulder on Michael's shoulder. They playfully were entangling their fingers together and listened to the emptiness of the Achievement Hunter office. The others were still out for lunch, and Gavin felt content about it, content to have this alone time to catch up with Michael. A ting lingered in his stomach, the kind of feeling Gavin loved. He remembered all those times Michael made him feel this way – nervous yet comfortable, and flat out happy. He remembered, but it was as if the feeling now had increased. He was nervous, but he was able to hide it, though his heart was still pounding in his chest.

“Tell me, Michael,” he spoke, “about your favorite memories of us.”

Michael furrowed his eyebrows. “I don't have any favorite memories.”

Gavin smiled. “Don't lie to me, Michael. I know you do.” He sat up and faced him, thinking back to his dream from a little while ago. “The first memory I got back,” he started, regretting that he hadn't mentioned it sooner, “came in a dream.”

Michael blinked and his expression softened from the news. “What? When?”

“Not too long ago,” Gavin told him, “I just wasn't sure if I wanted to tell you or not. I told Geoff-”

“You told Geoff but not me? Gavin, if it had to do with me-”

“Yes, but I didn't want to be wrong.” Gavin sighed and shook his head, “And I talked to Geoff about it. Truthfully, I thought it was just a dream, but it was different from any other dream I've ever had. It felt real.”

“People do have those kinds of realistic feeling dreams, Gavin.”

“No,” Gavin shook his head and threw his hands up, “listen, you sausage. It was different. When I woke up, my head felt a little less clogged. It felt good, and confusing. I just had a feeling it wasn't a dream. I had a feeling it meant more.”

“Well, what was it about then?”

Gavin rubbed his chin as he thought back to it, and the corners of his lips rose as he realized he remembered more of that memory than what he just dreamed about.

 

* * *

 

Gavin felt himself dozing off from staring so long at the textbook he was attempting to study from. His eyes wanted something else, though. He was about to give in when something hard hit his arm. Gavin lazily opened his eyes to find a controller now next to him. Looking at Michael, he saw his curly haired friend waving his controller in his hand.

“Wake up, Gav,” Michael said as he walked over to his Xbox plugged into the small wide screen TV they had set up in their dorm. “I still need to get you back from cheating your way into beating me last time.”

Gavin tilted his head. “I won fairly.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Gavin raised his eyebrows as he got up from his bed to join Michael on his. “Alright then,” he said, “I'll show just how good I am.”

Michael laughed as he got himself comfortable.

“Yeah, we'll see about that, you idiot,” he said.

Gavin looked at how concentrated Michael was as he picked out the settings for their game. The blond felt something tug at his insides and he smiled softly when he recognized the feeling as something warm. Being challenged by Michael was probably one of his favorite things, or maybe it was merely spending time with him. They were roommates, but that didn't mean they did _everything_ together. So Gavin loved when Michael asked him to do things with him, or invited him to go somewhere.

“Okay, Gavin, rea-” Michael paused when he noticed that Gavin had already been staring at him. And they continued to stare at each other until Michael's lips rose up slowly into what looked to be a side smile, until the other corner rose more.

“I'm ready,” Gavin said with a nod.

Michael forced himself to look away as he nodded as well. “Yeah, me too.” He took a deep breath and they started their game.

They went at for around an hour when Gavin became frustrated because Michael was beating him.

“Just like I said,” Michael said, “you cheated last time, and that's why you can't beat me for shit now.”

Gavin groaned, but didn't say anything.

“Tell me, Gavin,” Michael said, “what was your strategy?”

“I didn't cheat!” Gavin shouted, though he was smiling, amused at Michael's accusations.

“Shut the fuck up, you liar!”

“You're the liar you donut!” And Gavin shoved his shoulder right into Michael, and again, and then again.

Michael laughed as Gavin continued shoving him. He knew exactly what Gavin was trying to do, and it wasn't working. Not even slightly.

“Do you seriously think that's gonna throw me off?” Michael asked him, grinning from ear to ear as he glanced over at Gavin.

“No!” Gavin admitted, not keeping his eyes off the TV screen, “But it was worth a shot!”

“Moron,” Michael teased, and this time, it was Gavin staring at him as Michael concentrated on what he was playing.

“But Michael,” Gavin said softly, “how could I be a 'moron' when I can do this?” he tossed his controller aside and tackled Michael.

“Gavin!” Michael screamed, struggling to get the other off him. He could hear a crash coming from the TV and he knew his character had just died. “God damnit, Gavin! You killed me! NOW GET THE FUCK OFF ME!”

But Gavin didn't even try to as he continued to try and find Michael's possible tickle spot. Michael forced himself to hold in his laughter, though he couldn't stop from at least smiling.

“Gavin, no!” Michael yelled, “Gavin, stop!” He finally lost control and laughed.

Gavin grinned and went on with his torture on his best friend. “Who's the moron, now?”

Michael tried catching his breath, but at the sound of that, he put on his serious face, despite how much he wanted to laugh. He grabbed Gavin by his sides and rolled him over until he was straddling Gavin down on the bed.

“I'm sorry, what was that?” Michael asked, an eyebrow raised.

Gavin stared up at Michael, mouth wide open and eyebrows raised.

“I was caught off guard,” Gavin told him.

“Whatever, _moron_ ,” Michael mumbled as he rolled off Gavin.

They lied there, on their backs and stared up at the ceiling, the game they were playing now completely forgotten. Gavin rested one hand on his chest and the other to his side, almost touching Michael's. He looked over at his friend and smiled.

“Where do you plan to go after college?” He asked.

Michael furrowed his eyebrows and faced the blond. “Nowhere. I'm staying here. I came from Jersey to come live here. I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon.”

“You definitely are staying?” Gavin asked.

Michael was about to answer with a snarky comment, but as he saw the hopeful expression on Gavin's face, he sighed and said, “Yeah, for sure.” Though he didn't understand why Gavin almost seemed afraid of his answer.

But Gavin smiled again. “I'm glad. I don't know what I'd do without you.”

Michael rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling again. “You'd be fine, Gavin.”

“I just... I don't have many friends here, or any at all, really, and I would hate to lose my best friend. It's already hard having Dan live so far away.”

Best friend. The sound of those words coming from Gavin's mouth caused the corners of Michael's lips to rise. Gavin looked down at their hands near each other, and slowly, he moved his a little closer until they were barely touching back to back.

“I'm not going anywhere, Gavin,” Michael told him. “Don't worry.”

Gavin put his head down, resting his chin on his other hand as he looked up at Michael's face.

“Close your eyes,” Michael whispered, as he rested his head down on his arm.

Gavin smiled as he looked over the freckles on Michael's face. “You have a lovely face, Michael.”

Michael scrunched up his nose and shoved Gavin with his hand. Gavin laughed but caught himself before he fell off the bed.

“You're weird, Gavin,” Michael told him.

“I'm only as weird as you are.”

Michael's expression softened as he smiled. “Guess that's why we make a cool pair.”

“The coolest,” Gavin said.

Michael rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure, Gavin. The coolest.”

Gavin felt the soreness in his eyes again. They were begging for sleep, and he slowly began closing his eyes when he saw Michael closing his eyes, but then he opened them wide to see how Michael quickly drifted off to sleep.

Michael's lips were parted a bit as he breathed slowly, but not too quietly. Gavin scooted closer to him before allowing himself to fall asleep as well.

 

* * *

 

 

“You watched me sleep?” Michael asked Gavin once Gavin was done explaining.

Gavin smiled as he looked down at his hands. “I couldn't help myself.”

Michael shook his head, but smiled, “I'm kinda happy that was the first memory to come back to you.”

“Yeah?”

Michael nodded.

“Why's that?” Gavin asked him.

Michael put his legs on top of Gavin's lap and leaned his back against the couch's armrest. He shrugged before saying, “That's one of my favorite memories of us.”

“It's one of mine, too,” Gavin admitted. He leaned in to Michael and Michael kissed him, placing his hand on Gavin's stubbly cheek.

“This moment right now,” Michael said softly as they pulled away, “is definitely a favorite, too.”

“What's another favorite of yours?” Gavin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Michael laughed and sighed. “Probably the day we both got jobs here, and that one time we played Slender together. That's one of my favorite Rage Quits, too. You're such a baby.”

Gavin scoffed. “I recall you screaming in terror when Slender man almost caught us, too!”

“Yeah, but you were more of a bitch about it than I was.”

Gavin licked his lips, because maybe Michael was right about that. “We'll have to do a second part to that.”

Michael smiled and nodded, “Fuck yeah.”

“I can't wait for that, then!”

Michael leaned forward and squinted his eyes, “Yeah, it'll be fun, I guess.”

Gavin frowned at how serious Michael sounded, and Michael couldn't hold back his smile anymore.

“I'm kidding,” he said, “yeah, it'll be a lot of fun.”

Gavin smiled and Michael shook his head before kissing Gavin's nose. Gavin's smile widened as he closed his eyes to Michael's soft lips against his skin.

Ray halted in his tracks in the doorway when he saw the sight of the two, and it caused Geoff to run into him.

“Jesus Christ, Ray,” Geoff said, but his eyes widened when he noticed Michael and Gavin, too.

Michael and Gavin quickly got up from the couch at the sound of Geoff's voice and smiled awkwardly at him.

“Oh, hey... Ray... Geoff,” Michael said as casually as he could. He put u his hand, “How was lunch?”

“Apparently not as good as yours,” Ray told him. He crossed his arms and smiled at the two, “What's going on?” Then he gasped when the realization hit him.

“It's obvious, Ray,” Geoff told him, “Gavin's got his memories back. Fucking finally, too.”

“Holy shit,” Ray quickly walked over to Gavin and grabbed his shoulders, “You remember? Everything?”

Gavin laughed. “Yeah, I do.”

Ray breathed out a laugh as he shook his head, “Fucking _awesome_.” And he wrapped his arms around Gavin.

“What's going on?” Jack asked as he and Ryan stepped into the office. “I heard something about Gavin having his memory back?”

“What?” Ryan asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Gavin, “Really?”

Gavin nodded excitedly as he launched towards Ryan to embrace him. “I missed you, Ryan.”

“Whoa!” Ryan kept his balance as Gavin practically jumped into his arms, “Okay... yeah... uh... missed you, too.” He patted Gavin's back and smiled. “Really did, though. You were boring when you didn't know us.”

Gavin pulled away from the hug and proceeded to hugging Jack and Geoff.

“So, I see you and Michael caught up,” Ray said as he nudged Michael.

Michael glared at Ray. “Shut the fuck up, Ray,” but he smiled lopsidedly and Ray grinned at him.

“It was bound to happen, man,” Ray told him, “I was just waiting for the 'when exactly'.”

Michael looked at Gavin talk to the Gents about how good everything felt now that he was no longer confused about his life.

“Well, Ray,” Michael said, still staring at the blond with a smile, “It's happening now.”

 


End file.
